I get really annoyed at leaders who talk about working on great service and yet don’t provide adequate training. A few months ago, I was working with a leadership team that was discouraged about their poor patient satisfaction scores. As we talked, they explained what they were doing to improve service. It boiled down to this: they were measuring satisfaction through surveys and telling people to give better service.
What’s wrong with this picture? First of all, they didn’t have clear standards for service. Second off all, the only training that anyone ever received was during orientation. Once the new employee landed in his or her respective department, it was anyone’s guess as to how those lessons were reinforced. There was no ongoing training on customer service whatsoever. Read more...
During tough economic times, education and professional development are often among the first casualties of hospital budget cuts. If your customer service initiative falls into this cost center; think twice before you make that cut. You cannot afford to let your customer service slip especially in tough times. When money is tight, your patients think a bit more before parting with co-pays and deductibles especially if they have HSAs. After all, this $35 co-pay or $2000 deductible is their hard-earned money. That means that when they turn to you for care, they are scrutinizing things even more closely. They expect competent medical care from their providers. What they experience (and ultimately judge you on) is the service around that care. They need to see the value-added experience when they turn to you for care. After all, you aren’t modifying your mission statement with a disclaimer that reads, "e;we promise to deliver high quality compassionate, patient-centered care except during an economic downturn at which time, all bets are off."e; Your mission and brand promise must remain consistent through good times and bad.
An article in Business Week http://tinyurl.com/ajtx4e stresses that the companies that will be the most successful during an economic downturn are those that keep a close watch on service at the front lines. So how can you keep up the training and professional development when funds are tight? Read more...
